King of the Cage Belt Back Around His Waist, Joshua Aveles Ready to Knock Down Some Doors

Though he’s gone through stretches where he’s lost multiple fights in a row, 2013 might just have been the craziest year yet for King of the Cage welterweight champion Joshua Aveles.

After losing his initial opportunity to claim the KOTC 170-pound title in April, Aveles claimed the title in a rematch with David Gomes in August during a three-fight winning streak only to lose it to Kito Andrews in November.

After such an up-and-down year, Aveles was looking to start off his 2014 with yet another rematch title win, and he did just that by scoring a fifth-round knockout of Andrews on Feb. 22 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“The fight went how I wanted it to go,” Aveles told MMAWeekly.com. “I won every round.

“He tried to take me down, I stuffed it, I reversed him and when we were on the ground I showed that I do have ground skills that nobody gets to see normally.”

Being the second time in six months that Aveles won a rematch and took the title, things were all the more special for him.

“It actually feels real good,” said Aveles. “Especially in that fashion (to win by knockout), it shows that the outcome of the first one should never have been that.”

The win didn’t come without some cost, as a gash on Aveles’ knee has forced him out of a March 6 bout and on the shelf for the next little while.

“I got about six stiches in my knee from a gash,” he said. “I was originally told it was because of the cage, but re-watching the fight it saw that it was a leg check and the shin hit my knee and it just split.

“Right now I’ve got bruising all up and down my shin, so hopefully we’ll be back to training in the next few weeks.”

When Aveles does return to action, the plan is to be consistent and make people notice him in 2014.

“I just see myself trying to keep winning and get more eyes open to me,” he said. “I’m just trying to get more doors open and show what I’ve got.”